Olives and Onions
by Problem Child1
Summary: “I was drawn here, as if you used the bat-phone without even meaning to. Like a bat-phone pocket dial,” Finn joked.


Disclaimer: Amy Sherman-Palladino claims ownership of Gilmore Girls. I wouldn't mind Finn, however.

A/N: My triumphant return to the Gilmore Girls! I've missed the banter! I've missed the random trivia! And Finn! My god, have I missed Finn. So this is just a one shot, and it's not terribly romantic, but I love it. Except that I wrote it rather quickly. Oh, anyone looking to be a beta for someone who is awful at updating? Preferably someone with quite a lot of patience...

"So you said no?"

That voice was so familiar, Rory didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. The boy who hit on her mom and pretended to forget who she was and gave her the best advice about Logan.

"I said no," she confirmed.

Finn sat down next to her and flagged over the bartender. He hadn't talked to Logan, but he knew of the planned engagement beforehand. If the lack of phone call hadn't tipped him off about what had transpired after Rory's graduation, then finding her here at the bar – alone – would have been enough to tell him.

"I tried to explain to him," he told her. The bartender put down a vodka shot with a beer chaser, his normal beginning-of-the-night order. "He didn't want to listen. He was so sure that things were right between you two."

"They were," she replied. "They were more than right. I'm just not ready to get married. And here he is, thinking it's the 1950s and I'm just in college to meet a rich, successful man to sweep me off my feet and make me Suzy Homemaker."

"Love, we've had this conversation," he gently reminded her. And they had, plus many more. The first time she came to him for advice had been by accident. She ran into him in a coffee shop outside the library after a fight between her and Logan. One thing led to another, and she'd ended up spilling her guts to him about it. From then on, Finn was her go-to guy on all things Logan.

And they formed an unlikely friendship. She would complain about school or the paper or her grandparents or Logan, and he would regale her with stories about his many conquests or his fascination with redheads. And, she had to admit, he gave better sex tips than Cosmo did.

"He just wants me to be someone that I'm not." She took a generous sip of her martini. Absentmindedly, Finn reached over and plucked the onion off the toothpick in her glass. "I don't even know why I ordered it with an onion," she muttered. "I wasn't even expecting you to show up."

"I was drawn here, as if you used the bat-phone without even meaning to. Like a bat-phone pocket dial," he joked.

"Don't you have a date with what's her face tonight? The one you tastefully described as, what was it? Oh right, 'Alyson Hannigan with bigger tits.'"

"No need to get snippy, darling," he admonished. "I forgot how drinking can bring out that yummy bitch side of you that I love so much."

"I'm sorry, Finn. I don't mean to take this out on you. I think I just want to be alone right now."

He laid a hand on her forearm. "Are you sure that's what you need right now? Shouldn't you be at home with your exquisite mother right now instead of drinking away your sorrows like the rest of us scoundrels?"

"She's off planning my graduation party with Sookie right now, I didn't want to bug her," Rory admitted.

"I forgot that was tomorrow," Finn said, more to himself than her. "What makes you think that you'd be bugging her, love? Where does this inferiority complex come from? Didn't your mum teach you to be fierce?"

She laughed and finished off her drink. "I just dumped a perfect guy because he wanted to marry me. What kind of girl does that make me?"

"The girl I know," he replied honestly. "Darling, look at me." He gently pulled her chin towards him so she was looking him straight in the eye. "What kind of girl would you be if you sacrificed everything you worked so hard for because Logan wanted to place you in his idyllic future with a house in the suburbs and two children and a dog, all waiting for him to come home after his nine-to-five job in the city? What kind of so-called 'perfect guy' doesn't want you to follow your dreams? Just because you don't want that doesn't make you Valerie Solanas."

"Did you know he was going to propose?"

He broke his eye contact with her. "Maybe."

"How long?"

"Two weeks," he admitted.

She swatted his arm. "Two weeks? I've seen you dozens of times since then, and you didn't tell me?"

"I told you, I was trying to talk him out of it," he replied, rubbing his arm where she had hit him. "Damn, pet, I thought you finished your gym credits semesters ago."

She shot him a glare. "Don't change the subject."

"How was that changing the subject? I was merely stating a fact about the gratuitous violence that you performed upon my person." He pursed his lips to keep at bay the smirk that was threatening to emerge. "If anything, you're changing the subject by commenting on my fact."

She threw her arms up in frustration as he allowed the laughter on the tip of his tongue to come spilling out. "I can't believe we're friends."

"Logan can't either, as he wouldn't listen to me about you. I honestly tried, love. I know the conversation we've had so many times that I could probably replay it word for word in my sleep. Why dear Mr. Huntzberger won't get it through his pretty little head what you've told me many a time, I'll never understand. Perhaps it's his old fashioned breeding, I don't know. What I do know is that, despite my undying love for him, I think you made the right decision." He grinned. "The gorgeous Lorelai will agree with me, if she hasn't already."

"Thank you," Rory muttered.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Thank you," she repeated, louder this time. "For being my friend, still. I know how much it must suck to put you between Logan and I."

He shrugged. "It's nothing, dear. It's actually much easier to be friends with you than him. For some reason, he just doesn't want me to tell him how to give the perfect blowjob like you do."

She laughed and reached out to briefly squeeze the fingers on the hand he had resting on the top of the bar. "That's a life skill right there."

"I keep telling him that!"

The bartender finally replaced Rory's finished martini with a fresh one. She took one sip, then extracted the onion from it and held it out in front of Finn to eat. He grabbed it between his front teeth and slid it off the toothpick. "It's hard to believe anyone doesn't like these, but that just means more for me," he said cheerfully after he had finished it.

"You're the only person I know that prefers the onions over the olives," she informed him.

"Her name was Sophie," he told her suddenly.

"Who?"

"The girl I was supposed to go out with tonight."

She blinked. "This is certainly a one-eighty in conversation. What happened?" It was rare that Finn talked about the girls he dated so intimately. It was a lot of physical details, but never anything so personal as a name. Well, a given name anyway. Nicknames like 'girl from the cafeteria' and 'New Mexico' were a staple with his stories.

"It was supposed to be our fourth date," he reminded her.

"I remember something to that effect," she replied, gently teasing him about his excitement for this particular date.

"She was supposed to put out on this one." He sighed and rested his chin on his other hand. "But she turned out to have a boyfriend this entire time, so I told her I couldn't go out."

"How uncharacteristically gentlemanly of you."

"I think I actually kind of liked her to."

"I think you might have as well."

After a moment of silence, Finn moved the hand not holding up his chin to cover Rory's. He gently moved the pad of his thumb on the outside of her hand between her thumb and forefinger. "Can we stay friends?" he asked in a childlike, almost pleading voice.

She smiled at him and moved her thumb to link with his. "Was there ever any doubt?"


End file.
